Payroll is a process with which employers, accountants and payroll agencies determine and distribute wages to an employee as well as handle vacation and sick time accumulation. The payroll process takes into account certain taxable payments, such as salary, bonuses, advance payments and overtime, and non-taxable payments, such as employee expenses and employer pension contributions. The payroll process also takes into account certain pre-tax deductions and post-tax deductions, such as employee pension contributions and health care costs. Furthermore, the payroll process also takes into account certain benefits, credits and charges. Due to the complexity of calculating wages, withholdings and credits for employees, many employers, accountants and payroll agencies use a third party calculation system or application software to prepare the payroll for the company.
Payroll calculation systems provide automated payroll solutions for calculating an employee's net pay. Calculating an employee's net pay differs from jurisdiction to jurisdiction and geography to geography (e.g. country to country, state to state, city to city and etc.). The differences in calculating net pay in different jurisdictions includes elements of employee income subject to various taxes or deductions, the calculation of tax and deductions as well as the sequence of applying taxes and deductions. The complexity and variance of these payroll requirements in different jurisdictions makes generically calculating pay across many jurisdictions very challenging.
Although the overall intent of calculating pay across different jurisdictions is the same, determining an employee's net pay and an employer's expenses and liabilities based on the legislative rules that govern different jurisdictions is widely varied. Many of the legislative rules employed in one jurisdiction can also be employed in other jurisdictions. However, many legislative rules in one jurisdiction can not be found in other jurisdictions. Finding a structured way to compile payroll requirement across multiple jurisdictions would be beneficial to a payroll calculation system.
The discussion above is merely provided for general background information and is not intended to be used as an aid in determining the scope of the claimed subject matter.